University of Minnesota Athletics
University of Minnesota
St. Cloud State
Gophers Fall in Series Opener
11/27/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Hockey
Nov. 27, 2015
MINNEAPOLIS (GopherSports.com) - Leon Bristedt tallied his third multi-point game of the season including his team-leading sixth goal of the year as the Gopher Hockey program fell to No. 7 St. Cloud State by a 3-2 margin in the series opener.
In a back-and-forth game between the two nonconference, in-state rivals, the Gophers (4-6-0 overall, 0-0-0-0 Big Ten) rebounded to take the lead in the second period only for St. Cloud State (10-3-0, 5-1-0-0 NCHC) to pull off a rally of its own in the third period.
Minnesota had its streak of streak of 14-straight penalty kills without a blemish ended in the first period as David Morley snuck in a power-play goal to give the Huskies a 1-0 lead at 3:28.
The Gophers bounced back with arguably their best period of the season in the second - scoring two-straight goals and holding a 14-2 advantage in shots on goal.
Jake Bischoff blasted home his first goal of the year at 15:21 on a Minnesota power play. Vinni Lettieri and Bristedt set up the goal with assists while Brent Gates Jr., contributed a key screen right in front of the net.
Just over a minute later, Bristedt gave the Maroon & Gold its first lead of the night with a wraparound score for his team-leading sixth goal of the year. The sophomore has now surpassed his season total from last year through just 10 games. Tommy Novak and Ryan Collins picked up assists on the goal.
Minnesota's two shots against in the second period were a season low for the Gophers and the fewest since Jan. 24, 2015 against Minnesota Duluth at the North Star College Cup (also two shots against).
The Huskies would score two of their own in the third however as Jimmy Murray scored a power-play goal at 3:05, Joey Benik got the game-winning goal at 7:16.
Eric Schierhorn made 25 saves in net for Minnesota to move to 4-6-0 on the year while Charlie Lindgren stopped 24 to move to 9-3-0 for the Huskies.
The series concludes on Sunday, Nov. 29 with a 6 p.m. puck drop at Mariucci Arena.
-Pride On Ice-
